Tribe wants to seal casino option

Muckleshoots seek trust status at Emerald Downs

The Muckleshoot Indian Tribe is seeking federal approval to place the Emerald Downs racetrack property into federal trust for a potential casino.

"There are no plans" now for a casino, but the tribe didn't want to lose its right to put gambling in at the 185-acre Auburn property in the future, said Rollin Fatland, a consultant with the Muckleshoots.

The tribe, which operates one of the state's most lucrative casinos in Auburn, filed an application with the Bureau of Indian Affairs last month to beat an April 15 deadline that could have limited such future requests.

Currently, tribes can open casinos on land acquired after 1988 and off their reservation if they meet certain provisions of the Indian Gambling Regulatory Act.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, introduced a bill in November to limit some of those provisions. McCain, who noted that Indian gambling is a $19 billion industry and growing, set an April deadline to grandfather in applications before reforms take place.

"If we don't do something, we will forever lose the ability to do it," Fatland said, explaining why the Muckleshoot Tribe put in an application. He added, "There are no plans to do anything different than what's on the property now."

Three other Washington tribes applied for casinos on off-reservation lands within the past few months -- the Spokane Tribe of Indians, the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe for a 16-acre property in Port Angeles and the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation for three parcels in Wenatchee, according to the BIA.

In all, 41 tribes across the country have pending gambling applications with the BIA. Since the Indian Gambling Regulatory Act passed in 1988, the BIA has approved 34 applications that have qualified under the exceptions.

In March, the BIA cleared the way for the Snoqualmie Tribe to build a 150,000-square-foot casino off Interstate 90 east of Issaquah. The Cowlitz Indian Tribe is proposing a casino on land two miles west of La Center in southwest Washington and is waiting for the BIA to give their land federal reservation status.

Indian trust lands are lands held by the federal government on behalf of tribes. The process of putting such lands in trust can take years.

The Muckleshoot Tribe bought the land beneath the Emerald Downs horse track for $73.6 million in 2002, property records show. Fatland said it's the tribe's policy to put lands it purchases into federal trust.

Auburn Mayor Peter Lewis said Friday that he was caught off guard when he received an e-mail last week about the application.

"We've had no details. We don't know what's planned," Lewis said. "We've had no discussion at all about it."

He said the city could lose about $750,000 in sales and property taxes if the land is designated as federal reservation land because the tribe would no longer be on the city's tax rolls. Lewis also had concerns about impact on the city's roads and services, such as police and ambulance, if any development goes there.

Asked how he would feel about a casino on the property, Lewis said he couldn't answer that because he's had no communication from the tribe.

Northwest Racing Associates, which owns the track and buildings, has a 60-year lease on the land. The Auburn track is off busy state Route 167 at the 15th Street Northwest exit.